Televangelist Pat Robertson has become the latest prominent conservative to question why the Department of Homeland Security is engaged in an apparent arms build-up, asking if the 1.6 billion bullets purchased by the federal agency will be used against the American people.

Speaking on his CBN broadcast yesterday, Robertson characterized the DHS ammo purchase and its acquisition of armored vehicles as “like something out of science fiction: long trains of full or armored vehicles, personnel carriers with armor.”

“What are they for, the Army going into battle against the enemy?” asked Robertson. “They’re used by Homeland Security against us!”

Robertson then quoted Ronald Reagan, “The most fearful statement in the English language is ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’.”

“Imagine what Homeland Security is doing, it’s just awful,” he continued. “We’re going to talk about how much ammunition they’re stockpiling. Who are they going to shoot? Us?”

Their source for that judgment is a February 14 Associated Press report which quotes a single DHS official who claims the bullets are being bought in bulk and are for training purposes only. Apparently, citing the glib statement of one government official is enough to “debunk” concerns about government activity which are now shared by over a dozen members of Congress.

However, as we have exhaustively documented, the notion that the ammo is being purchased in bulk to “save money” is completely erroneous since most of the bullets are hollow point rounds, which are almost twice as expensive as regular full metal jackets and therefore unsuitable for training purposes.

In addition, the article derides the issue as a “baseless” conspiracy theory yet fails to mention the fact that over a dozen members of Congress have demanded answers from DHS chief Janet Napolitano, only to be stonewalled.

Earlier this week, a weapons manufacturer who supplies ammunition to the federal government told the nationally syndicated Savage Nation radio show that the ammo purchases were an attempt to “control the amount of market that’s available on the commercial market at any time,” by forcing manufacturers to hold back stock.

Although the DHS has not physically purchased the full amount of 1.6 billion rounds of ammo (although huge quantities are being acquired and delivered to DHS facilities on a regular basis), it has signed contracts forcing manufacturers to set aside that amount of bullets, creating a squeeze on the market.

While happy to take pot shots at people easy to portray as “right-wing” demagogues, such as Pat Robertson and Sarah Palin, the liberal media continues to portray the DHS arms build-up as a “conspiracy theory” by ignoring the fundamental flaw in the DHS’ explanation for the huge bullet buys – that the “saving money” excuse doesn’t stand up and therefore there must be another reason for the purchases.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.